Immaculate rallies past Joel Barlow 28-21

Published 12:39 pm, Monday, October 19, 2009

The Immaculate High football coach was enjoying the moment after his team rallied with three unanswered fourth-quarter touchdowns for a stunning 28-21 South-West Conference win over Joel Barlow Saturday.

"It was up-and-down, roller-coaster emotions," said Hancock, the Mustangs coach. "The best word to describe it is fun."

Immaculate's Brendan Bader, who returned an interception 79 yards for a key fourth-quarter score, agreed.

"It's the best win with all the people here, the seniors and all the graduates at homecoming," said Bader. "It's the best."

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Joel Barlow (2-2) had the upper hand over Immaculate (1-3) most of the day. The Falcons took a 21-7 lead into the final period thanks to an option rushing attack that piled up 351 yards, including quarterback Tyler Colby's 202 yards on 24 carries.

Barlow was so effective on the ground that Colby didn't even attempt his first pass until just over seven minutes remained. And even though Barlow had hammered away with its option runs on every single play, Hancock and Bader said they knew a short screen pass was coming on a fourth-and-six with the Falcons on the Immaculate 21.

"Our kids spend a lot of time watching film and we have a lot of good scouting going on by our coaches," said Hancock, who met with his team on the field during a timeout. "When I went into the huddle (Bader) says to me `Coach, screen throwback.'

"I said `Be aware of it. Know it's coming.' I was going in there to tell them in the huddle, but he told me."

So Bader was waiting when Colby rolled out and threw back into the left flat. The senior defensive back stepped in front of the intended receiver and raced untouched for the touchdown to tie the score at 21 with 7:08 left to play.

"I wasn't going to get tackled," said Bader.

"It was one big play really," said Hancock. "That pickoff turned things around."

The teams traded mistakes after that with Immaculate getting hit with a roughing-the-kicker penalty to keep a Barlow drive alive. But the Falcons fumbled the ball away on the next play.

Immaculate was then helped by a roughing-the-passer call to set up the winning TD -- an 11-yard run up the middle by sophomore quarterback Pat Fahey with 1:14 left.

Barlow quickly drove to the Immaculate 25, thanks in part to Chris Fahey's late hit on Colby that drew a 15-yard penalty. But Fahey redeemed himself, swatting away Colby's Hail Mary in the end zone to seal Immaculate's win.

"I wanted to make up for that," said Fajey, who also scored on an 11-yard reception early in the period. "I knew I had to do something. Since they were down they had to be throwing. I did what I had to do."

Barlow ended up winning the statistical battle, outgaining the Mustangs in total offensive yardage (367-164) and first downs (17-8). But that was little consolation for Falcons coach Rob Tynan.

"We all sort of failed today," Tynan said. "I don't think we had a great coaching day and we turned the ball over. You can't do that and expect to win. This league is too competitive to do that.

"We've all got to take ownership with this one. We all made our mistakes today and you've got to grow from it."

Barlow opened the scoring on a 4-yard touchdown run by Sam Neidenbach (17-78) in the second quarter.

Immaculate tied it minutes later on a 26-yard pass from Pat Fahey (8-19-93) to Matt Carr. A key play in the drive was a 37-yard pass from Bader, operating out of a wildcat formation, to Chris Fahey.

Patrick Eaker's 22-yard touchdown run down the left sideline put Barlow back in front 43 seconds before the half.

The Falcons needed just three plays into the third quarter to make it 21-7 when Colby galloped 40 yards to the end zone.